Inter-University Chair in Law and the Human Genome

Inter-University Chair in Law and the Human Genome

Inter-University Chair in Law and the Human Genome
Criminal Law, Science, Technology and Technological Innovation Seminar (I)
The Inter-University Chair in Law and the Human Genome held during the 26 and 27 of
November, 2007, it’s “Seminar on Criminal Law, Science, Technology and Technological
Innovation (I)” which was led by Prof. Dr. Carlos María Romeo Casabona and coordinated by
Emilio José Armaza Armaza. This seminar is encompassed within the Research Project
«Derecho Penal y Nuevas tecnologías: sobre los intentos de adaptación del Derecho Penal
al desarrollo social y tecnológico», financed by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Divided into four sessions, the Seminar was moderated by Professors Carlos Suárez
González, Professor of Criminal Law of the University of the Basque Country (San
Sebastián); Esteban Sola Reche, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of La Laguna
(Tenerife); Mercedes Alonso Álamo, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Valladolid
(Valladolid); and Norberto de la Mata Barranco, Professor of Criminal Law at the University
of the Basque Country (Leioa).
The beginning of the Seminar was by Dr. Miguel Ontiveros Alonso, Director of the Instituto
de Formación Profesional de la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal de
México, who disserted on «Globalización, desarrollo tecnológico y Derecho Penal»; next,
Andrea Castaldo, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Salerno spoke on «Tradición
y obsolescencia en el Derecho Penal»; Prof. Hans Lilie, Professor of Criminal Law and Dean
of the Law School Martin Luther de Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) addressed the issue of
«Política criminal y sociedad del riesgo»; Professor Manuel Tello León, Professor of Physics
at the University of the Basque Country, closed the first session by giving a detailed account
of the current state of affairs of the «Investigación científica e innovación tecnológica».
The second session allowed us to have the opportunity to listen to dissertations entitled:
«Causalidad, incertidumbre científica y resultados a largo plazo» by Dr. Carmen Gómez
Rivero, Professor of Criminal Law of the University of Sevilla; «Reglas de imputación,
problemas causales y ciencia» by Dr. Edgardo Alberto Donna, Professor of Criminal Law at
the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina); and lastly, the conference entitled «Causalidad,
incertidumbre científica y resultados a largo plazo» by Prof. Dr. Carlos María Romeo
Casabona, Professor of Criminal Law of the University of the Basque Country/EHU and
Director of the Seminar.
The third session had the participation of Dr. Manuel Lezertua Rodríguez, Director of Legal
Counsel and Public International Law of the Council of Europe, who spoke on «Instrumentos
jurídico-tecnológicos en el ámbito europeo para la prevención y la persecución del
terrorismo»; likewise, Dr. Ulises Hernández Plasencia, Professor of Criminal Law at the
University of La Laguna, dealt with the issue of «Efectos colaterales del desarrollo científico
y tecnológico: delitos de peligro abstracto y leyes penales en blanco»; and lastly, the Adjunct
Director General of the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT) Mr.
Alfonso Beltrán García-Echaniz, spoke on the issue of «El Desarrollo de la política científica
y tecnológica en España».
To finalise the seminar, the last session had the interventions of Dr. Fátima Flores Mendoza,
Professor of Criminal Law at the University of La Laguna, who took a close look at «El
tratamiento del error en el cibercrimen»; following this we listened to Dr. Mª Ángeles Rueda
Martín, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Zaragoza, who dealt with «Los ataques
contra los sistemas informáticos: conductas de hacking, cracking y ciberpunking. Cuestiones
político-criminales»; and Dr. Miguel Ángel Boldova Pasamar, Professor of the University of
Zaragoza, who spoke on «Pornografía infantil en la red: fundamentos y límites de la
intervención del Derecho Penal».
The debate generated among the participants (among which were professionals and
students, both Spanish as well as from seveal Latin American countries), at the end of each
of the sessions was evidence of the great interest by the academic community to analyse the
challenges and problems that the social and technological development are posing for the
Science of Criminal Law.
Finally, the Seminar was closed with a lecture of conclusions drafted by Dr. Emilio José
Armaza Armaza, Pre-doctoral Researcher of the Ministry of Education and
Science/University of the Basque Country.